World's Okayest Runner

The funniest thing happened to me over the past 17 weeks. I took this time to slowly build up my mileage to run in the Tryon Half Marathon, and during this time, all my training went well. I didn't get sick, or injured. I stuck with the plan, and I completed the half marathon distance on Saturday November 14th. 

This was probably the slowest half marathon of my life, but it doesn't matter. I had a blast. Bart ran with me the entire run. We laughed, enjoyed the beautiful scenery, and we got to cheer on lots of runners on this out and back course. 

The plan to work my way back to running this distance is probably the simplest training on the planet, no speed work, just mileage based. Scratched out on a piece of paper, I figured I could run 4 days a week with my work schedule. To kept the training on the conservative side, I ran at a conversational pace and walked all the up hills. 

For the longest time, I felt like I wasn't seeing any progress. I walked the hills because I had to, but I figured if I just kept moving forward, I would at least be covering the distance. Eventually things started to feel easier, and I could walk faster on the up hill portions. 

So, with this accomplishment behind me, I will continue to use the highest mileage week as a base, and slowly start to jog portions of the hills. Right now I feel like the world's okayest runner, and I'm happy with that!

Happy Running!

Eve